Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Nov 8, 2008, at 9:39 AM, Don Bowen wrote:

> > The key is not the ground but the shade. Mesquite trees are well
> > adapted here. They shade the ground, whether that ground is covered
> > with grass or gravel.
>
> Therein lies the whole secret.  As pointed out people lived in the  
> desert
> for many thousands of years before air conditioning.  They did it by
> adopting to the weather and available water.  In the valley floor in  
> winter,
> into the hills in summer.

Fun finds in the Phoenix Mountains Preserve two blocks from the house  
where Benny and I stretch our legs are the occasional holes in the  
ground, obviously places where someone got down into the earth to stay  
cool. I expect they had little in the way of roof beyond branches. Not  
sure how they handled heavy rain when it occasionally came down.